24 March 2013
Release windows are shrinking. The time between a cinema opening and a home entertainment debut is currently about four months. Televisions are growing larger and more affordable. 4K resolutions are just around the corner. Movie theatres must be able to offer something a home theatre cannot. The IMAX format has pushed the size envelope to such a degree that a film premier in that format is an event. What about on the aural front? Well, the perennial war between the silver and small screens, since the latter’s prevalence in the living room, a new weapon has now been unleashed…
There might be two sound companies that you’ve heard off. They tend to flex their technological muscles before films in certain auditoria:
- Dolby, and
- George Lucas’s THX.
The former announced the concept of its latest project in April 2012 in Las Vegas, and now there are 100 cinemas with Dolby Atmos worldwide. Cinephiles and audio geeks will be hotly anticipating its continuing rollout. There are 20 theatres in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The UK has one so far: The Empire, Leicester Square.
There might be two sound companies that you’ve heard off. They tend to flex their technological muscles before films in certain auditoria:
- Dolby, and
- George Lucas’s THX.
The former announced the concept of its latest project in April 2012 in Las Vegas, and now there are 100 cinemas with Dolby Atmos worldwide. Cinephiles and audio geeks will be hotly anticipating its continuing rollout. There are 20 theatres in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The UK has one so far: The Empire, Leicester Square.
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What’s so special? I was given a demo on Tuesday 19th March 2013 at Dolby EMEA headquarters, London.
Brief history of cinema sound:
Mono – stereo – surround – 5.1 – 7.1
Basically, that means we’ve got to the stage where at eight points in a screening, there is the possibility to break up the movie’s soundtrack and play it around us. We notice helicopters and spaceships flying.
Now, the in-house auditorium I was in has 26 speakers (including five subwoofers). The usual array encircling the walls, slightly extended to be all encompassing, but now there are two rows on the ceiling. To quote the Atmos White Paper, “The first-generation Dolby Atmos cinema processor can support up to 64 outputs. Although 61.3 channels may sound excessive when compared with configurations available today, multichannel amplifiers that are currently available make individually addressing each of, for example, 11 surrounds on each sidewall in a large theater [sic] a reasonable proposition.”
Mono – stereo – surround – 5.1 – 7.1 – Atmos
Dolby wants to go from the sensation of movement to “precision of movement” while watching a film. The name “Atmos” I guess comes from the “upper hemisphere of sound”; which I witnessed in all its glory as a clip of Ang Lee’s LIFE OF PI unfolded. You know, the scene where the ship sinks. As the storm pummels the protagonist, it feels as if the wave overhead is pushing down on the audience. Seriously, wow!
Don’t know about you, but I love great sound design. That Oscar category is not a technical nonentity; it is a righteous acknowledgement of the essential element of what reaches our brain through our ears. Having witnessed legendary sound designers Ben Burtt (STAR WARS, RAIDERS OF THE LAST ARK, WALL.E) and Randy Thom (THE INCREDIBLES, WAR OF THE WORLDS, GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE) speak on their craft at the British Film Institute, if you weren’t a convert to the power of audio to elevate a moving picture, you would be at the end.
Dolby told me they are working with both filmmakers and exhibitors, to make sure this new toolbox at their disposal will be utilised to the maximum. There are 33 titles so far out or upcoming. TOY STORY 3 kicked off 7.1 in 2010, and BRAVE did the same for Atmos last summer. These are the ones I am so excited about: IRON MAN 3, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, MAN OF STEEL, PACIFIC RIM and GRAVITY.
Wait till you hear the new logo trailer, ‘Unfold’, it may induce a geekgasm.
It’s a brave new world.